Matthew Tan

BA (Hons) LLB STL PHD
Senior Lecturer in Theology

Email: matthew.tan@nd.edu.au
Phone: 08 9433 4175

  • Biography

    Dr. Matthew Tan is Senior Lecturer in Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He was also Lecturer in Theology and Philosophy at Campion College Australia and Visiting Professor in Catholic Studies at DePaul University in Chicago.

    He received his doctorate in Theology at the Australian Catholic University, and his License in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas in Rome.

    He has a keen interest in finding meeting points between Theology, Social Theory and personal experience, which he explores in his blog "Awkward Asian Theologian".

  • Teaching Areas

    Catholic Social Teaching
    Studies in Catholic Thought

  • Research Expertise and Supervision

    Theology & Postmodern Culture
    Theology & Social Theory
    Theology, Virtue & Vice

  • Books

    • Redeeming Flesh: The Way of the Cross with Zombie Jesus (Eugene: Cascade 2016)
    • Justice, Unity & the Hidden Christ: The Theopolitical Complex of the Social Justice Approach to Ecumenism in Vatican II (Eugene: Pickwick 2016)

  • Book chapters

    • "Communion After Social Media" in K. Wagner, M.I. Naumann & P.J. MacGregor eds. Ecclesiology at the Beginning of the Third Millenium (Eugene: Pickwick 2019), pp. 104-113.
    • "Bobblehead Church: The Ecclesiological Effects of Catholic Online Celebrity" in M.D. Bosch, P. Soukup, J.L.M. Sans, D. Zsupan-Jerome eds. Authority and Leadership: Values, Religion and Media (Barcelona: Blanquerna Observatory 2017), pp. 69-77
    • "The Love of Many Lands: Theology, Multiplicity & Migrant Identity" in M. Budde ed. Scattered and Gathered: Catholics in Diaspora (Eugene: Cascade 2017), pp. 96-111.
    • "Marian Epistemology" in K. Wagner, M.I. Naumann, P.J. MacGregor & P. Morrissey eds. Mariology at the Beginning of the Third Millenium (Eugene: Pickwick 2017), pp. 194-208.
    • "Sarah Coakley & the Prayers of the Digital Body of Christ" in J. McCrandal ed. Sarah Coakley & the Future of Systematic Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress 2016), pp. 159-186.
    • "Conversion in Dexter", Co-authored with J. Hodge in S. Cowdell, C. Fleming & J. Hodge eds. Mimesis, Movies & Media: Violence, Desire & the Sacred (NY: Bloomsbury 2015), pp. 201-210

  • Journal Articles and Proceedings

    • Matthew John Paul Tan (2020) "Pornography & Christology",  Australiasian Catholic Record​​, v97:3, pp.312-9.
    • “Being Someplace Else: The Theological Virtues in the Anime of Makoto Shinkai”, Religions (2020), 11:3, 109.
    • "Faith in the Church of Facebook" (2015). Journal of Moral Theology, vol. 4(1), pp. 25-36.
    • "Christian Prayer as Political Theory (2014). Politics, Religion & Ideology, vol. 15(3), pp. 366-379.
    • "Abortion in/as a Consumer Structure" (2013). Solidarity: Journal of Catholic Thought & Secular Ethics, vol. 4(1), p. 7
    • "Reason, Politics & Evangelisation" (2012). Heythrop Journal, vol. 53(3), pp. 567-578

  • Conference Papers

      • "The Trauma of Migration & the Event of Christ", Colloquium on Violence & Religion. Universitaat Innsbruck (2019).
      • Christ in Hyperreality: Cultural Marxism, Kulturkritik & Fake News". 1958 Five Decades On. Dawson Society, University of Notre Dame Fremantle (2018).
      • "Spectacularly Divine: Augmented Bodies in the Mediatised City". International Society for Media, Religion and Culture, University of Colorado Boulder (2018).
      • "The Church, Catholic Identity and the Migrant: An Augustinian View". Australian Catholic Theological Association Conference, Australian Catholic University (2017).
      • "The Body of Christ & Celebrity Heads: The Ecclesiological Impact of Catholic Online Celebrity". Theology & Communications Conference, University of Santa Clara (2015).
      • "War by Other Meangirls: Pop Culture as Total War". Colloquium on Violence & Religion, Kardinal Dopfnerhaus Freising (2014).
      • "Faith in the Church of Facebook". Theology & Communications Conference, University of Santa Clara (2014).
      • "The Love of Many Lands: An Augustinian Theology of Migrant Identity". World Catholicism Week, DePaul University (2013).
      • "We Proclaim a Cyborgified Christ: The Church & the Salvation of Life on the Internet". Centre for Theology and Philosophy Conference, Krakow (2011).
      • "Reason, Politics and Evangelisation". Centre for Theology and Philosophy Conference, Rome (2008).
      • "The Liturgical Transformation of International Political Community". Oceanic Conference in International Studies, Brisbane (2008).
      • "Bringing Apocalypse Now: Eucharistic Liturgy and Peacemaking". Melbourne Conference in International Affairs, Melbourne (2007).
      • "Finding God: Incorporating Transcendence into Peace Research". Alternative Expressions of the Numinous Conference, Brisbane (2006).

  • Original creative works

    Blog: Awkward Asian Theologian awkwardasiantheologian.com

  • In the media

    • "Theology in Pornland with Justine Toh". Life and Faith. Centre for Public Christianity. 17 October 2019.
    • "Spiritual Lifehack with Justine Toh - Giving Up Netflix for Lent". ABC Radio National. 7 April 2019.
    • "Images & Idolatry: What Christians can Learn from Cultural Marxism". ABC Religion and Ethics Online. 7 December 2018.

  • Professional affiliations

    Australian Catholic Theological Association
    Colloquium on Violence & Religion

  • Awards

    Russell Berrie Fellowship in Interreligious Dialogue (2009-2011)